Main menu

Tag Archives: bigots

As exciting as the prospect of the first black man to be elected President is, it would be a mistake to think it’s a sign that violent racism is dead. Proof of that comes in a news report about four bigots who were arrested in Denver. They’re being investigated under suspicion of planning to shoot Obama:

Maass reported earlier Monday that one of the suspects told authorities they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”

Law enforcement sources told Maass that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.”

The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested Tharin Gartrell, 28. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner, according to sources.

Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.

[…] Nathan Johnson, 32, an associate of Gartrell and Adolph, was also arrested Sunday morning. He told authorities that the two men had “planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech.”

“He don’t belong in political office. Blacks don’t belong in political office. He ought to be shot,” Johnson told Maass.

“Do you think they were really plotting to kill Obama?” Maass asked.

“I don’t want to say yes. I don’t want to say no,” he said.

The mugshots of two of the suspects (above left) don’t do anything to dispel the “redneck idiot bigot” stereotype at all. Nathan Johnson in particular, on the right in that pic, looks like the result of too much inbreeding. The good news is these yahoos are off the street and any threat they may have posed appears to be over and done.

The next question is: Is there anyone else out there with similar goals?

Lots of folks have sent me links to news items and blog posts about the antics of Rep. Monique Davis, a Democrat for crying out loud, who opened a can of verbal whoop ass on atheist Rob Sherman. I could rant about what a bigoted asshat she is, but I’ll just let Keith Olbermann do it for me: